Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1887-09-03
Approuchtnq MiLosis.

cred was the palace Of the queen, or rather Of
the queens. AT the back of the palace tho
town sloped gently upward to a flashing
building of white marble, crowned by the
golden dome which we had already observed
The city was, with the exception of this one
building, entirely built of red granite and
laid out in regular blocks with splendid road
ways between. So far as we could see also
the houses were all one-storied and detached,
with gardens round them, which gave some
relief to the eye wearied with the vista of red
granite At the back of the palace a road of
extraordinary width stretched away up the
hill for the distance of a mile and a half or
so, and appeared to terminate at an open
space surrounding the cleaning building that
crowned the hill. But right in front of us
was the wonder and glory of Milosis-the
great staircase of the palace, the magnifcence
of which fairly took our breath away. Let the
reader imagine, if he can, asplendid stairway,
sixty-five feet from balustrade to balustrade,
consisting of two vast flights, each of 1875
steps of eight inches in height by three feet
broad, connected by a fiat resting place sixty
feet in length and running from the palace
wall on the edge of the precipice down to
meet water way or canal, cut to its foot
from the river This marvellous staircase
was supported upon single enormous granite
arch, of which the resting place between the
two flights formed the crown; that is, the
connecting open space lay upon it. From
this archway sprang subsidiary flying arch,
or rather something that resonbled flying
arch in shape, such as none OF us had seen in
tiny other country, and of which the beauty
and wonder surpassed all that we have ever
imagined. Three hundred feet from point to
point, and no less than $50 round the curve
that half arc scared touching the bridge it
supported for space of fifty feet only, one
end resting on and bHft into the parent arch
way, and the other imbedded in the solid
granite of the side of the precipice
The staircase, with its supports, was, in
deed, work of which any living man might
have been proud, both on account of its mag
nitude and its surprising beauty. Four times,
as we afterward learned, did the work, which
was commenced in remote antiquity, fail and
was then abandoned for three centuries,
when half finished, till at last there rose a
youthful engineer named Rademas, who said
that he would complete it successfully, and
staked his life upon it. If he failed, he was
to be hurled from the precipice he had UNDER
taken to scale; if he succeeded he was to be
rewarded by the hand of the kings daughter
Five years was given to him to complete the
work, and an unlimited supply of labor and
material Three times did his arch fail, till
at last, seeing failure to be inevitable, he de-
termined to commit suicide on the morrow Of
the third collapse. That night, however,
beautiful woman came to him in a dream and
touched his forehead, and Of sudden he saw
q vision of the completed work, and saw, too,
through the masonry, and how the difficulties
connected with the flying arch that had
hitherto baffled his genius were to be over
come Then he awoke and once more conf
menced the work, but on a different plan,
and behold he achieved it, and on the last
day of the five years he led the princess, his
bride, up the stair and into the palace. And
in due course he became king by right OF his
wife and founded the present Zu-Vendi dy-
nasty, which is to this day called the blouse
OF the Stairway" thus proving once moro
how energy and talent are the natural step
ping stones to grandeur. And to comment
crate his triumph he fashioned statue of
himself dreaming and of the fair woman who
touched him on the forehead, and placed it in
the great hall of the palace, and there it
stands to this day.